Saturday, January 1, 2005

2005 marks my half-century in the Real World. [I've been a part of Toobworld since 1961, when I received my Citizen of Joyville certificate from 'The Hap Richards Show'.]

I'm cool with the idea of turning fifty. I know that inside, I'm still fifteen. In fact, I think my voice is finally changing!

But it does give me the excuse to expand the Birthday Honors Roll for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame so that it runs the entire year.

Some of the past inductees on the Birthday Honors List might not have made it into the Hall of Fame otherwise. Some of their qualifications are less than official; in all but name they might have appeared in other shows. (Like Dr. Miguelito Loveless)

Some of them depend on connections to the movie universe. (There will be at least one of those this coming year.)

And others have been inducted in the past for their contributions to the world of TV in general. (Suzie MacNamara had only two series under her belt, but as she took place in the crossover that's generally accepted as the first, she got special notice.)

For 2005, you can expect to see off-the-wall honorees every month of the year.

And an especially odd - yet apt! - choice will be made for the actual Birthday Honors berth.

Thursday, December 30, 2004

In my own small, bloggish way, I'd like to pay tribute to Jerry Orbach.

Much has already been written about his popularity as Detective Lennie Briscoe during his 12 year run on 'Law & Order'. But he also made another contribution to the TV Universe with the spin-off of his recurring character from 'Murder, She Wrote': 'The Law & Harry McGraw'.

In his memory, the 2006 roster for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame will be devoted entirely to inducting 'Law & Order' characters. (2005 has already been set in stone, due to a personal milestone.)

And as January is dedicated to TV classics, there could be no better inauguration for such a theme than Lennie Briscoe.

BCnU!
Tele-TobyMike: Get this return address: "476 Avenue Bearing the Initial of Our Lord into the New Kingdom."Lennie: Great. This time of day it's gonna' take us an hour to get downtown.Mike: Since when do you have a roadmap to heaven?Lennie: I don't. But I've been up and down Avenue C. ['Law & Order']

Now that we've reached the end of the calendar year, but not the end of the TV season, I'd like to salute those shows and characters who made the best contributions to the TV Universe.

They aren't necessarily recognized for expanding the universe through the means of spin-offs and crossovers, but because they enriched - or as they say in 'The Simpsons', embiggened - the possibilities and various aspects of Toobworld.

BEST NEW TV SERIES
'LOST'
Striking out on its own, this drama has picked up the mantle of such off-beat, quirky, spooky shows as 'Twin Peaks' and 'The X-Files' without following in either of their footsteps.

It's been described as an unholy hybrid of 'Gilligan's Island', 'The Twilight Zone', 'The New People', 'The Outer Limits', and 'Survivor'. Yet it's none of the above and all of them and something else altogether.

For the first time in a very long while, I'm waiting for the next installment of a show as soon as the end credits are rolling for the current episode.

BEST TV MOVIE
'THE LIBRARIAN: QUEST FOR THE SPEAR'
The premise for this flick built on projects that had come before it - most notably 'The Raiders Of The Lost Ark' - and gleefully, shamelessly ripped them off. With its premise of a modern library housing the world's most magical antiquities, 'The Librarian' was able to be linked to a variety of other shows - 'Hercules', 'Arthur Of The Britons', 'Roar', 'Lois & Clark' etc.

And with the possibilities of sequels, its links can continue to be forged.

BEST NEW MALE CHARACTER
DR. GREGORY HOUSE - 'HOUSE'
It's been over twenty years since 'St. Elsewhere' forced us to lose our outdated views of all doctors as 'Marcus Welby, M.D.'. But not even Dr. Mark Craig could hold his own against such an unmitigated prick as 'House'. The world of medicine might not benefit from his presence, but Toobworld certainly gains.

BEST NEW FEMALE CHARACTER
GRACE McCALLISTER, 'JACK & BOBBY'
Like Dr. House, she certainly is not an easy character to like. But her hard-edged, bull-headed, opinionated attitude is certainly believable for molding the boy who would be President into everything he will be, as well as won't be.

BEST NEW MALE SUPPORTING CHARACTER
TONY BLUNDETTO, 'THE SOPRANOS'
For someone who was supposed to be so integral to Tony Soprano's early family life, "Tony B" seemed to come ouf of nowhere, rather than fresh out of prison. But it didn't take long to accept how Tony B's very existence was a shattered reflection of everything Tony S was and should have been and whom he would never be.

When Tony S finally killed his cousin himself, he had convinced himself it was to save Tony B from a far worse death. But it may be that he was removing that constant reminder of his own flaws.

Tony Blundetto was the most devastating blood relation Tony Soprano had since his mother Livia.

BEST NEW SUPPORTING FEMALE CHARACTER
BOBBI, 'JOEY'
There's no denying how bad I find this spin-off from 'Friends', but whenever Jennifer Coolidge shows up as Joey's boy-toy hungry carnivore of an agent, the stultifying shackles are thrown off and she sends this sitcom into loopy, giddy heights.

It's just a shame that such a brassy broad is stuck in such a leaden vehicle.

BEST CAST ENSEMBLE
THE SURVIVORS OF 'LOST'
Everybody on board Oceanic 815 has a secret. Nobody is as they appear, either. And the show's creators delight in dangling tantalizing little clues to keep us coming back for more, and willingly.

Everybody in the cast is so perfect for their roles that it would be a shame to lose any of them. But the producers have stated that a major character will die by the end of teh season. Yet even the worst of them are rich enough in backstory to hang around for years.

BEST NEW GUEST APPEARANCE
ARIK SOONG, 'ENTERPRISE'
It took three seasons, but it looks like 'Enterprise' has finally learned what made 'Deep Space Nine' better - a grasp of the rich history of 'Trek'.

And no one was a better link to all of that than the mad geneticist Dr. Arik Soong. "Grandfather" to the android Data of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', disciple of the goals fought for in the Eugenics Wars, Soong had a playful malevolence found in the best of villains.

And he had a fine eye for green-skinned Orion slave girls!

Finally, here are a few quickies:

BEST SERIES FINALE - 'Frasier' ('Friends' suffered from a built-up sense of overkill hype.)

BEST SENSE OF ONE'S OWN HISTORY - 'Enterprise', runner-up: 'Law & Order'

Just An Old Cowhand On The TiVo Grande

As the Trickster once said, "Reality is boring, that's why I change it whenever I can."
I'm just "The Man Who Viewed Too Much", and "Inner Toob" is a blog exploring and celebrating the 'reality' of an alternate universe in which everything that ever happened on TV actually takes place.
Most of my theories about the TV Universe come from thinking inside the box and thus can't be proven. But I've never been one to shy away from a tall tale.....
Remember: "The more you watch, the more you've seen!"